Hello all!
It has been a while and I have been itching for some college basketball. With the Becker camp going on this week I got a chance to stop by Patrick and catch some post camp scrimmage action. This was the first look at the new additions to the team and the thing that jumped out from the get go was the intensity of the play. The teams were really getting after each other and they looked like a very cohesive group. With several of the newcomers being experienced college players, there was a maturity and focus in the on court play. The other thing that jumped out was the overall talent level. The guard position in particular has tremendous depth and there are going to be fierce battles for playing time throughout the year. The coaching staff is looking at a "too many good players" dilemma. Coaches dream of a scenario where they have so many good options and I think after some of the difficulties in finding a good rotations last season, the coaching staff will gladly embrace the challenge of managing so much depth.
On to some individual performance reactions. Jackson Skipper was borderline dominant through the two hours of games, scoring at every level and getting physical on the defensive end. He is much stronger coming off his redshirt year and continues to look like a player that will be very good for the Cats in the future. Matt Veretto put on an incredible shooting display from three and looks like he will make a big jump with full season/offseason cycle under his belt. Aaron Deloney's return was huge for Vermont as the importance of his leadership was on full display. Much like last season when Becker said that it was "Robin's team" this is clearly going to be "AD's team". Nick Fiorillo is also taking on a leadership role and shot the ball well while looking more fluid and had some nice pop on a few dunks. Sam Alamutu is somehow even bigger and stronger and his first step looked a little quicker. Ileri Ayo-Faleye looked much stronger and blocked several shots. He is looking to build off his defensive stopper presence from last season. Michel Ndayishimiye continues to be lightning quick and competes on every play. Now on to the newcomers. Shamir Bogues is going to be a great fit at Vermont. He has a great pace to his game, calm and under control, and then immediately accelerating for a steal or a huge dunk. He is going to be a force on the defensive end and a strong finisher in traffic on offense. TJ Long started slow and was struggling to find his shooting stroke. Then one quick Becker pep talk and he was on fire the rest of the time. He is tough with a really nice stroke from deep. When he is feeling it he can put up points in a hurry. Jace Roquemore is another player with a great feel and a calm presence. He has great court vision and will be a great facilitator in the offense. Brenton Mills is quick and creative off the dribble. Seth Joba is big and athletic. He has good rebounding and shot blocking instincts and a smooth shooting stroke. As we saw last season predicting freshman impact can be hard but whenever Joba adjusts to the college game he has a very high all conference player ceiling. Noah Barnett is athletic and and a good rebounder. He has the tools to develop in a good player.
TJ Hurley is over in Hungary playing for team Canada and in their game today he played very well knocking down 3 threes and scoring a team high 13 points.
The two new walk-ons Charlie Moore and Michael Mora held their own nicely and played very hard. I mentioned Moore's addition in a previous post but Mora is a new addition. Mora hails from Asheville, NC and is a 6'6 guard. Both players looked like guys that will bring a lot to practice and Mora in particular looked like a guy could work himself into a role down the line.
Samurai Hoops had reported on twitter several weeks back that Bryson Johnson's brother Nathan Johnson was going to fill the vacant coaching position and that is the case. Johnson has lots of player development experience in Canada and will bolster Vermont's recruiting ties north of the border.
There is so much to be excited about with this season's team. They are going to be a very experienced team with great depth. Last season the early part of the year was difficult with the scheduling issues but it was also challenging to find the right lineups due to the lack of depth and inexperience. This season I would expect the Cats to hit the ground running a little bit more and have several different lineup options. There is a lot of versatility on the roster with different guys with different skill sets who the coaching staff will be able to mix and match and adapt to various game situations. Obviously this was just one practice and I admittedly was very wrong with my initial takeaways when I watched the after camp games last year, but this team has a very different feel. This group already looks like a team that has only winning on their mind.
Now the long wait until October begins. I am very excited to see how this group progresses and can't wait to see them again in the fall.
